Method and apparatus for forming rings



Jan. 5, 1932. v. F. BRAUN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING RINGS Filed March '7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [NYE/V701? zuM Ww= ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 5, 1932. v. F. BRAUN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING RINGS Filed March 7. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYS Patented Jan. 5, 1932 VICTOR I. BRAUN, F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING RINGS Application filed March 7,

' My inventionrelates to improvements in methods and apparatus for forming rings from ingots of the general character disclosed in Patent #11,,049 granted June 6th,

1854, to Alfred Krupp, and'also disclosed in part in Patent #1367540 granted February 8th, 1921, to John Eckert.

The object of my invention is toaprovide an improved method and means for perform- 10 ing the initial operationsupon the'ste el billets preparatory to the rough ring forming, rolling and finishing operations;

In said prior patent to Krupp the steel billet was first drilled or perforated and then slitted and progressively expanded by wedges sufliciently to enable it to be hammered into the form of a roughring while it was being revolubly shifted over an anvil preparatory to the rolling operation, audit is a specific object of my invention toreduce the number of operations and expedite the work of preparing the blank for the roughhammering operation to be performed upon the anvil.

It is also my objectto'reduce the rough hammering operation by pre-forming the blank more nearly into a ring shape than was possible by the former methods, thus reducing the time and labor required for rough hammering the ring upon the anvil.

By my improved-method I first pierce the billet to form therein an elongated slot and then expand the side walls of the slot by first inserting a spreader therein while sup porting the blank, and separately supporting the sides of the blank whilethey are being separated by thetool employed for spreading or expanding the same, the supports being allowed to move with the expanding side walls of the blank toallowthe spreading tool to pass through the blank and betweenthc' supports. Thereupon I retract the tool and allow the supports to again approach each other in a manner to allow the blank to drop into a position on the supports to be'additionally spread by a second separation'of the 1929. Serial No. 345,008. 7

supports caused'by a second operation of the original expandertool.

I am thus enabled to form a rough ring in Hthree operations, all of which may, if desired,

be performed by a single tool operating in conjunction with such separable supports, al- I though I may employ two sets of supports and two tools if desired.

My invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings showing forms of the apparatus embodying my invention, in which t Figure 1 is a front elevation of apparatus in which three sets of tools and co-operating supports are employed. i

i "Figure 2 is a View of the steel billet as it appears preparatory to the initial operation.

Figure 3 is a view of the blank as it appears after the initial piercing operationhas been performed upon the billet.

- Figure 4 is a view of the blank as it appears after the initial expanding operation.

Figure 5 is a'view of the blank as it appears after the second operation, with dotted lines indicating the position of the expander and of the separable supporting members.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary isometric view showing'portions of one of the anvils and of the slotting or piercing plate shown in Figure 1. V I

Figure 7 is a similar view showing the 7 second anvil or separable supporting mem- 1 bers' in association with the expander.

Figure 8 is an end view showing a modified forming press for the rough-rings.

Like parts are identifiedby the same reference characters throughout the several 7 views.

I will nowdescribe my process as praci ticed with the aid of the illustrated apparatus. The steel'billet 10 shown in Figure 2 is heated ina furnace and then placed upon the blank supporting die 11 shown in Figure 1, said die being provided with a slot 12 and an 90 additionally contouring opening 13 underneath the slot into which the waste material may drop. A slide 13, mounted in the frame 14 ofa press, is provided with a carriage 15 from which the piercing plate 16 is supported by a head block 17 having dove-tailed connection with the carriage 15. An expander 18, having a tapered lower end 19, also has dove-tailed connection at 20 with the carriage 15, said carriage also having dove-tailed connection at 21 with the said slide 13. The sides of the tapered lower end portion 19 of .the expander are preferably conveXly rounded as clearly shown in Figure 1 and it is 'mounted in a position for co-operation with a blank supporting expander die comprising separable members or die heads 22 and 23, supported by arms or legs 22 and 23 the lower ends of which are pivoted at 2 1 and 25 to the bed 26. The arms or legs of this ,die normally separate or diverge downwardly fronithe' meeting faces of the upper portions to the pivot pins 2 1 and '25and .one'or more springs 27 may be employed to normally hold the upper portions together. The die heads 22 and 23 have their meeting faces slightly cut away intermediate of their ends as indicatedat 29 whereby the point of the spreader may enter and separate them during a spreading operation.

XVhen the blank 10 has been placed Upon the die 11 asshown by dotted lines in Figure 1, it will be pierced by the piercing plate 16, which forms an elongated slot in the blank during the initial downward movement of the slide 13. The blank is then .in the condition in which it is shown in Figurell, whereupon it is transferred to the expander diathe parts 22 and 23 supporting the blank with the slot therein registering with the cut away portions'29 of the die. Y

Thereupon the next downward movement of the slide 13 causes the point of the spreader to enter the slot in the blank and the tapering portion 19 then passes downwardly. through the blank to spread the side walls ofthe slot and cause the'blank to assume the form in whichjit is shown inFigure 1; During this downwardmovement the (he heads 22'an-d 23 will be, separated by the spreader and pushed outwardly to theposition indicated by dotted lines in. Figure 1, whereupon a retraction of the slide 13 will withdraw theexpander and allow the'headsz 22 and'23 to again come together by gravity or under the tension eX- ertedby the springs27. Initially the blank will adhere to the sides of the spreader sufficiently to lift it slightly from the die heads or at least to reduce itspressure so that the heads 22 and '23 may readily move together under the blank. Should the blank continue to adhere to the spreaden'the attendant will rap it slightly with a metal tool, whereupon itwill drop to the die heads. J

The opening formed in the blank by the spreader or expander 18 will then be of sufficient size to receive the heads 22 and 23 and allow the blank to descend to a position of support-upon their laterally extending shoulders 31 and 35, whereupon the next downward movement of the slide 13 will cause the spreader to again separate the heads 22 and 23 and again spread the blank to the form of a rough ring as indicated in Figure 5, in which figure the upper surfaces of the heads 22 and 23 and also the spreader or expander 18 are indicated by dotted lines on a reduced scaleas-compared with that of Figure 1.

It will be observed that in the three operations above described. a rough ring may be formed which is much more nearly circular than that disclosed in Figure 13 of said prior patent to Krupp and therefore a hammering or pressing operation'now to be described may be quickly performed with a minimum number of strokes of the press or hammer and a minimum number of rotative shifting operations to be performed upon the blank duringsuch operation. 2

here suchblanksare small, the rough ring may readily be pressed into a more completely circular form by the same press used for the piercing or expanding operations above described. For this purpose I provided the carriage 15 with a forming member 30, having its under surface 81 cylindricallv contoured in general conformity to the curvature of the exterior surface of the ring to be formed. Underneath this forming member :I provided a saddle 32-, the upper surface of which is contoured in accordance with theinterior curvature of the ring to be formed, the saddle being preferably supported from the bed 26 by a suitable post 33. IuROIlgll rings of the character shown in Figure 5 or, if desired, those of the character shown in Figure 4, may be placed upon the saddle32 and the upper corners eliminated by downward movement of the slide 15, whereby the curved sin-face 31 may be brought into contact with the corner portions of the rough ring; A single operation of the press will be sufiicient to contour the upper portion of theb'lank to substantially the desired shape; of the completed ring, thereupon the rough ring will be inverted and the operation repeated. For small rings this contouring operation may be sufficient .to place the ring in a condition to be transferred directly to the finishing die without rolling, although in nearly all cases the rolling-operation will still be preferred as an intermediate step between the operations of the pressand those ofthe finishing die.

For.- the larger rings, an independent press may be'employed as shown in Figure 8, in which a press platen or slide 15a is illustrated with a contouring head 30a provided with a cylindricalgunder surface 81a, conforming precisely with the part 30,.shown in Figure 1 in structure and contour, although differing in size. The saddle 32a, post 33a and bed 26c: will also conform with the corresponding parts shown in Figure 1, except in the matter of i In Figure 8 a blank is shown in po- 311 on the saddle, said blank being in substantially the condition of the blank shown in Figure 4, and the press is shown as it appears during the initial portion of the shaping operation.

It will be understood, however, that'the blank, when formed as shown in Figure 5, may be subjected to a hammering operation simhar to that disclosed in said Krupp patent and that it will be subjected to a rolling operation similar to that disclosed in either the Eckert Patent #l.,367,5l0 or that disclosed in the Krupp patent.

After the operations herein described, or at lea st after the rolling operation, the blank will be subjected to finishing operation in an expanding forge described and claimed in a companion application filed by me and bearing even date herewith.

I claim:

1. The method of forming rings from ingots, consisting in heating the ingot, punching a slot therethrough intermediate of its ends, providing separable supports for the ingot at opposite sides or" the slot, spreading the ingot'sufliciently to receive the upper ends of the supports in the expanded slot and simultaneously and correspondingly separating'the supports while maintaining them in ingot supporting position, and then returning the supports to their original position and allowing their upper ends to enter the expanded slot partially through the opening in the ingot and again separating the supports to additionally spread the ingot into rough ring form.

2. Apparatus for forming rings-from ingots, comprising means for punching a slot in the ingot, in combination with a tapered spreader, and a cooperating anvil composed of separable members adapted to be actuated by the spreader, said anvil having supports for the ingot at two different levels, and'portions adapted to extend through the ingot after an initial operation of the spreader.

3. In an apparatus for forming rings from ingots a ring forming anvil composed of two separable parts, and means for normally holding said parts together to provide a support for a slotted blank, said anvil having laterally extending shoulders below the upper surfaces oi its central portions adapted to support the blank after it has been expanded sufficiently to receive said central portions, in combination with a reciprocatory spreader punch adapted to separate the sides of the blank,

and the members of the supporting anvil.

a. In an apparatus for forming continuous rings from slotted blanks, the combination with a reciprocatory spreader, of a blank supporting die in the path of the spreader, composed of two separable members adapted-to be forced apartby the spreader during itsv constitute a support for said blanks, and 7 means for holding said ends in normal contact under resilient tension, said ends being adapted to extend partially through an initially expanded blank in a second supporting relation thereto.

6. In apparatus for forming rings from slottedblanks, a blank supporting die comprising a pair of pivotally supported members separated and pivotally supported at their lower ends and having upperends nor mally in contact and adapted to constitute a support for said blanks, and means for bolding said ends in normal contact under resilient tension, said endsbeing adapted to extend partially through an initially expanded blank in a second supporting relation thereto, and means for separating the sides of the blank andthe members of the die in successive blank forming operations. 1

7. In a ring forming press, a carriage pro vided with a piercing punch, an expander punch and a contouring head in combination with a bed having a slotted die for reception of the piercing punch, a separable die for reception of the expander punch and a saddle to support roughrings in the path of the contouring head.

8. The method of forming rings from ingots consisting in supporting a hot slotted ingot on opposite sides of the slot, spreadin g the ingot suiiicientiy to receive the upper ends of the supports while and simultaneously separating the supports to maintain them in supporting position, retracting the ingot and the supports until the ingot is permitted to drop by gravity over the upper ends of the supports to engage the latter in the expanded slot, and then again separating the supports to expand the ingot into rough ring form.

9. The method of forming rings from ingots consisting in punching the central portion of the ingot to spread the same upon a pair of simultaneously separating supports, then converging the supports and allowing the ingot to drop by gravity over their upper ends, and then punching-the supports apart to additionally spread tae ingot while maintaining the supporting relation.

.10. Apparatus for forming rings from ingots comprising the combination with a forgiii;

ing press having a spreader punch and means for reciprocating the sa1ne,ofa set of separable die members adapted to support the ingot on opposite sides of the path "of the punch, said 5 supporting members having upper ends adapted to enter the opening formed by the punch when said members are in normal position, means for retracting the supporting e members to normal position when the punch is retracted and allowing the ingot to drop by gravity over the upper ends of the supporting members preparatory to a second punching operation, whereby the punch may then engageand spread the supports Within 'the ingot. v

' VICTOR F. BRAUN.

as a 

